Waubonsee Community College

Payback, why we retaliate, redirect aggression, and take revenge, David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

Payback

bibliography

666573577

David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton

why we retaliate, redirect aggression, and take revenge

From the child taunted by her playmates to the office worker who feels stifled in his daily routine, people frequently take out their pain and anger on others, even those who had nothing to do with the original stress. The bullied child may kick her puppy, the stifled worker yells at his children: Payback can be directed anywhere, sometimes at inanimate things, animals, or other people. In this book, the authors, an evolutionary biologist and a psychiatrist, offer a look at this phenomenon, showing how it has evolved, why it occurs, and what we can do about it. Retaliation and revenge are well known to most people. We all know what it is like to want to get even, get justice, or take revenge. What is new in this book is an extended discussion of redirected aggression, which occurs not only in people but other species as well. The authors reveal that it's not just a matter of yelling at your spouse "because" your boss yells at you. Indeed, the phenomenon of redirected aggression, so called to differentiate it from retaliation and revenge, the other main forms of payback, haunts our criminal courts, our streets, our battlefields, our homes, and our hearts. It lurks behind some of the nastiest and seemingly inexplicable things that otherwise decent people do, from road rage to yelling at a crying baby. And it exists across boundaries of every kind, culture, time, geography, and even species. Indeed, it's not just a human phenomenon. Passing pain to others can be seen in birds and horses, fish and primates, in virtually all vertebrates. It turns out that there is robust neurobiological hardware and software promoting redirected aggression, as well as evolutionary underpinnings. Payback may be natural, the authors conclude, but we are capable of rising above it, without sacrificing self-esteem and social status. They show how the various human responses to pain and suffering can be managed mindfully, carefully, and humanely

Passing the pain along -- Biology: animals and molecules -- Personal: slings, arrows, and outrageous scapegoating -- Social: revenge, feuding, rioting, terrorism, war, and other delights -- Stories: pain-passing in myth and literature -- Justice: not revenge? -- Overcoming: shall we? -- The Jewish way (Halakah) -- Some Christian ways -- The way of A.A. -- The way of Islam -- Gandhi's way -- The Buddhist way -- The way of psychology and physiology -- The game theorist's way -- The economist's way -- The psychiatrist's way -- The way of apology -- The way of the world -- Conclusion: the principle of minimizing pain (an 11th commandment)

Why we retaliate, redirect aggression, and take revengeWhy we retaliate, redirect aggression, & take revenge